3 out of 5 stars

Workplace comedy Mythic Quest returns for a lacklustre fourth season. Rob McElhenney created this video game studio-centred Apple TV+ comedy alongside his It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia collaborators Charlie Day and Megan Ganz. However, unlike that long-running show, this comedy has softened itself to try and fit into more of an Abbott Elementary-style sitcom format.   

McElhenney himself returns as Ian Grimm, the self-obsessed creator of a World of Warcraft-like MMORPG. However, season 4 moves away from sending up the world of video game companies and now spends more time exploring the work-life balance of the employees of Mythic Quest.

The past seasons of Mythic Quest focused on Ian Grimm as a tech genius with too much money and an ego the size of a planet. Underneath the surface, he was always a little more sensitive and thoughtful than the façade gave away. The writers soften him even more this season, perhaps presuming the world has had enough of cocky tech entrepreneurs to want to watch another play around with his employees. When tech company CEOs are on the front pages, it now feels like the perfect time to amplify his god-sized arrogance, yet instead, he becomes sidelined in his own TV show. McElhenney underplays his performance as Ian, a wasted opportunity to deliver relevant and satirical gags about the billionaires making very public power plays.

Poppy (Charlotte Nicdao) has always been one of the more interesting female characters in modern TV comedy. She was a creative genius who understood coding but not people; smart and likeable, just not self-aware enough to use her skills outside of work. She was a wonderfully complicated and layered creation, but the writing of her character in season 4 feels wildly different from previous seasons.

This series does her (and the women who look up to her) a disservice by giving her a boyfriend and an active sex life. It’s a shame they watered down everything that made Poppy such an interesting representation of women in tech. Her new, more socially capable, raunchy personality sometimes feels like a new character. Season 4 takes Poppy’s character in ways that will surely anger the women in STEM who previously praised her representation.

Poppy and Ian’s complicated work relationship goes off into a will-they/won’t-they romantic tangent in this series. At times, it seems like multiple writers are writing these two characters, and none of them agree on the direction in which they should be going. What was previously hinted at is now fully addressed, simplifying the complicated dynamic between two socially awkward geniuses who can never believe they are in the wrong. Not every TV show has to give their leads romantic interests or give them a ‘Ross & Rachel’-style storyline. Poppy and Ian worked well enough as platonic soulmates, linked by their work; they don’t need a contrived layer of romance between them.

After going rogue and leaving the company, Poppy and Ian return to the Mythic Quest game. Their third season plot of forming their own company and going it alone is now totally pointless and almost retconned. The writers of Mythic Quest keep writing their characters into corners and having to make them act out of character to repair the mistake. Instead, it’s former games tester Dana (Imani Hakim), who’s decided to move away from Mythic Quest, taking the capitalistic monetisation expert Brad Bakshi (Danny Pudi) with her. Dana’s girlfriend Rachel (Ashley Burch) continues working at Mythic Quest, although her role within the company is never fully explained.

In the last two seasons, Rachel and Dana feel like they are surplus to requirements. The youngest of the main cast, the couple existed as a politically correct contrast to CW (F. Murray Abraham) bigotry. Since Abraham exited the show, the couple are aimless with their cancel culture jokes simply wearing thin.

Mythic Quest has started to go on a more character-driven path, yet with so many different leading characters and so little narrative, this season can feel a little aimless. The writers took a risk in season 3 by splitting up the cast, and it was a risk that did not pay off. By separating the cast, characters and narratives are further apart, with nobody getting enough time to shine. Splitting everyone into different groups and companies means that the same people are always interacting. Gone are the group’s dynamics with their clashing viewpoints and generational differences.

Season 4 of Mythic Quest struggles to know where to take the team professionally, concentrating more on their lives outside of work. This includes setting more episodes outside of the workplace, like a lacklustre Traitors-inspired murder mystery episode and a slightly more successful Senate appearance. The show is always trying to do new things instead of remembering what made the first two series so successful.

It’s not all bad; there are still gags and satire about the world of a gaming company, the series just has a lower success rate than previous outings. Meek executive producer David Brittle (David Hornsby) continues to be a delight as he is constantly put in his place by his co-workers, his terrifyingly forceful assistant Jo (Jessie Ennis), and the overlords who fund his company’s games. While David continues to be the most consistently funny character, he is a one-dimensional character with a lack of backstory. If anyone deserves a standalone episode, it’s this divorced, middle-aged man.

Jo and Brad also get underutilised, their larger-than-life personalities not right for this newer, gentler version of Mythic Quest. The writing really struggles to blend the original satirical edge of the first two seasons with the more character-led seasons 3 and 4.

Two episodes stand out in a run of middling-quality writing. “Rebrand” sees the return of a fan-favourite season 1 character and is an accurate yet seething takedown of the current state of online streaming culture. It also sees a new addition to the cast, one that will excite fans of Rob McElhenney’s other comedy. “Breakthrough” delves into an HR session with the ever-annoyed and always-underused Carol (Naomi Ekperigi). It’s one of the few glimpses of workplace satire and makes the most from HR manager Carol’s exasperated, short-fused personality in contrast to the terminally peppy David.

The silly takedown of modern workplace comedy made this show’s first two seasons so good. Season 3 felt like it was setting something more serious and substantial up; this payoff was not fully felt in season 4. The show is becoming less and less about the videogames industry, something which made it feel unique to other workplace comedies. Now, Mythic Quest could be about any office, in any industry, with any clashing group of employees.

While earlier seasons of Mythic Quest focused on a few main characters with the supporting cast revolving around them, season 4 of the comedy tries too hard to cover multiple people who are now on very different trajectories. By trying to balance everyone, the writers water down their personalities and their narrative. The show would benefit by getting the team back together in the office and making them all work towards the same goal.

USA | 2025 | 10 EPISODES | 16:9 HD | COLOUR | ENGLISH

Cast & Crew

writers: Megan Ganz, David Hornsby, John Howell Harris, Humphrey Kerr, Ashly Burch, Brian Keith Etheridge, Amelia Gillette, Elisha Henig, Asmita Paranjape & Javier Scott.
directors: Todd Biermann, Charlotte Nicdao, Megan Ganz, Ashly Burch, Heath Cullens, Imani Hakim & Danny Pudi.
starring: Rob McElhenney, Ashly Burch, Jessie Ennis, Imani Hakim, David Hornsby, Charlotte Nicdao & Danny Pudi.